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In the present study we focus on the relationship between democracy deficit and homophobic divergence within 21st century European societies. Our main research question is about how social attitudes towards lesbians and gays changed in the examined time period (between 2002 and 2016), and whether there are any signs of convergence regarding these issues in different parts of Europe, characterized by different welfare regimes, a quarter of a century after the political system changes in the countries formerly often referred to as the "Eastern Bloc". The empirical base of the study is a dataset including all eight rounds of the European Social Survey, focusing especially on a key variable measuring the agreement level with the statement that gay men and lesbians should be free to live their own life as they wish. For data analyses descriptive statistics and explanatory models were constructed by applying multilevel mixed effect linear regression models. Our results show that there are still significant differences between different parts of Europe regarding social attitudes towards gays and lesbians. However, based on our results we would recommend a more refined division than the East–West dichotomy within Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By examining social attitudes on same-sex adoption in 28 European countries, we highlighted individual and country-level factors that can determine the level of social acceptance or rejection of this specific kind of adoption. This article contributes to the literature on social acceptance of lesbian women, gay men, and their adoption practices in Europe and directs attention to several previously under-researched aspects of social attitudes on same-sex parenting rights. The empirical base of this study was the fourth round of the European Values Study, conducted in 2008-2010. Using ordered logistic regressions, we examined the impact of several individual and country-level characteristics on the agreement level with the statement that "Homosexual couples should be able to adopt children." We found strong relationships between social attitudes towards adoption by same-sex couples and the existence of legislation permitting same-sex adoption practices at the country-level, as well as some individual attitudes, including those related to traditional family formation practices, "justification of homosexuality," and (non-) preference for homosexual neighbors. Our findings indicate a shift within the potential interpretational contexts of adoption by same-sex couples from a narrow sexuality-based framework to a different and possibly much wider context of family and parenting practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparative social-historical study examines different versions of state-socialist body politics manifested in Hungary and Slovenia mainly during the 1950s by using archive material of “unnatural fornication” court cases. By analyzing the available Hungarian “természet elleni fajtalanság” and Slovenian “nenaravno občevanje” court cases, we can shed light on how the defendants were treated by the police and the judiciary. On the basis of these archive data that have never been examined before from these angles, we can construct an at least partial picture of the practices and consequences of state surveillance of same-sex-attracted men during state-socialism. The article explores the functioning of state-socialist social control mechanisms directed at nonnormative sexualities that had long-lasting consequences on the social representation of homosexuality in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on archive research and interviews with activists who were affiliated with the early homosexual subculture in Budapest, this article traces the transformation of a secretive and socially invisible subculture (that was based mainly on sexual exchange between men) to the establishment of the first formal homosexual organization and the emerging homosexual movement at the end of the 1980s. The article illustrates how the emergence of HIV/AIDS worked as a catalyst in transforming the Hungarian gay subculture into a more organized homosexual movement. Rather than state-socialism being in crisis, it was a crisis of public health and perceived danger to the members of the community that instigated the creation of the first formal homosexual organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HIV and STD prevention is an essential component of public health initiatives in countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Liberalization in sexual values, declining age at first sex, higher levels of sexual activity, and inconsistent condom use have been well-documented among young people in the region following the political, economic, and cultural transitions after the end of the state socialism era. Less well-understood are the reasons for high-risk sexual behavior and psychosocial factors that must be addressed in the development of effective HIV/STD prevention programs. This study recruited members of 12 high-risk social networks of young adult men and women (n= 66 participants) in two cities, St. Petersburg, Russia, and Budapest, Hungary. In-depth focus groups were conducted with all members of each network, and qualitatively analyzed to examine factors surrounding high-risk sexual behavior. Main themes that emerged were that STDs are less known and less feared than AIDS, HIV risk factors were relatively well known among young adults in both countries but vulnerability is perceived differently, pregnancy prevention is a more immediate concern than protection from HIV or STDs, condom use declines quickly following first sex with a new partner, reintroducing condom use in a relationship is very difficult, and young adults report many barriers to condom use including those related to alcohol or other substance use. HIV/STD prevention programs are needed that extend beyond risk education alone and that also address critical psychological, social, and relationship factors related to sexual risk behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses how gender and (homo)sexual relations were disciplined in Hungary during the 1970s, part of the Kádár era, named after János Kádár, the top political leader of the People's Republic of Hungary between 1956 and 1988. The first part of the article examines the widespread effects of the New Economic Mechanism of 1968 (which could not be rounded off by political reform) on critical thoughts on family formation, as well as some largely absent aspects of gender equality. The second part of the article presents pieces of empirical evidence on the social existence of sexuality in the context of a system of ‘tolerant repression’ celebrating asexual socialist reproduction. The article concludes that most Hungarians seemed to be able to negotiate their lives between the constraints of state socialism and their longing for enjoyable human relationships even in the ‘uniformly pallid’ 1970s. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT The microwave-assisted Kabachnik-Fields reaction of a series of 3-amino-6-methyl-2 H-pyran-2-ones, paraformaldehyde, and dialkyl phosphites or diphenylphosphine oxide led to α-aminophosphonates or α-aminophosphine oxides, respectively. The α-aminophosphonates were obtained under solvent-free conditions, whereas the α-aminophosphine oxides in acetonitrile. The novel products were characterized by NMR and mass spectral data. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 24:221-225, 2013; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/hc.21086 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue maps out real and symbolic spaces of women who are attracted to women in Eastern Europe, and highlights some of the challenges they face. One of the main themes emerging from the articles is that constructing spaces for women outside the heterosexual mainstream can be a useful political strategy in societies where non-conventional sexual interests, attractions, and gender expression have discriminative consequences. All of the eight articles in this special issue represent different voices, while demonstrating that there are many similar tendencies concerning the main goals and difficulties of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and lesbian movements of the region, in terms of legal and social developments related to the most heated issues of same-sex marriage and parenting on the one hand, and the violent attacks against pride marches and political backlash on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports findings from research about trans* citizenship in 14 post-socialist countries. It evidences substantial deficits concerning trans policy making, and a lack of policy debate in this area. Most examined countries have a lack of protocols for official gender change in birth certificates, IDs, passports and other documents. Usually there are no guidelines, measures and procedures defining the standards of healthcare for trans persons. Practice concerning healthcare varies widely, and trans people and advocates exercise agency in negotiating access to care. The article suggests that trans citizenship studies need to foreground legal and social aspects of citizenship, as these are highlighted in the post-socialist context. Policy implications are discussed in relation to key citizenship debates including those concerning challenges to normative models of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kabachnik-Fields reactions of a variety of amines, phospha-Michael additions to maleimide derivatives and alcoholysis of dialkyl phosphites were studied under microwave conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]